Daily Prayer Topics + What I've Learned This Past Year About Prayer

Each year in January I share on my blog about a simple method I feel God gave me called 'Daily Prayer Topics'.  I'm by no means an expert and I always feel like my prayer life can improve but I do feel like this method has really helped my prayer life over the past two years. Also this past year God gave me two, simple but profound things, connected to prayer and I wanted to share that with you as well.  

Two Things I Learned

The first thing I learned came from a four book series called The Secret of the Rose. I think the first book is the best and I highly recommend it. The books are historical fiction that are set during WWII. These books spoke to my heart because the main character is a rose gardener and a farmer and he talks so much about God as a Gardener and a loving Father. It really presented God in a different light for me and somehow that worked its way into my prayer life. It helped me view God as a tender Father who is intricately involved in every detail of my life. 

Secondly, my friend Pam talked about prayer during a devotional once and she said she sometimes likes to imagine herself sitting right by God talking to Him. She also said that prayer is sometimes like a little child sitting on a Dad's lap talking. I honestly can't see myself as a child sitting on God's lap but the truth of God being a gentle Dad that is present with me and who will listen to me resonated deeply in my heart. I started praying imagining that I was right next to God and it is helping change my attitude towards prayer. So many times when I pray I feel like God is far away and that I'm "checking off the list" by praying but when I stop and realize that God is present with me and that I can really talk to Him and share what is on my heart my heart it's changed my attitude of how I talk with God. 

This is a bonus but I've tried to sprinkle more gratitude into my prayers. I'm super blessed and to not thank God for that would be wrong. Also, when you talk with a friend how annoying would it be if they said hi and then asked you for 10 favors. Being grateful also reminds me of God's provision and faithfulness and it builds my faith. 

Daily Prayer Topics

What are daily prayer topics? It's just what they sound like, a topic of prayer for each day of the week. Each day has a little rhyme or a quirky way to help me remember the topic for the day. 

Underneath each day I have a list of people who I pray for. Some friends have asked me to pray for specific things so next to their name I'll jot down a word or two to help me remember to pray specifically for what they asked for.  

Another thing I really found helpful was to put these in a note in my iPhone. I always have my phone with me so if I am in a taxi, on a plane or some place quiet I can open that list up and pray right away. You could also put it in a notebook that you always have on you or put the list in your Bible. It's good to have it handy. 

Missionary Mondays - A day to pray for our missionary friends around the world. Serving abroad I can't tell you enough how important prayer is. If you pray for your friends on this day why not shoot them an e-mail letting them know. I guarantee they would appreciate it.

Tuesday - Just the Two of Us - A day to pray over our marriage. A day to pray individually for Dave and I, for our walks with God and for Him to grow our marriage. If you aren't married maybe this could be a day for you to pray about you and your relationship with God or for your future spouse. 

Wednesday - Our Weird Woved Ones - I know, it's super cheesy but it helps me remember. and no, I don't think my family is full of weirdos. This is a day to thank God for our wonderful families and to lift them up in prayer.

Thankful Thursdays - So many times we ask ask ask and we really need to stop and thank God for all He has done. This day is set aside just for that.

Friday Friend Day - A day to pray for all of my friends.

Salvation Saturdays - A day to thank God for saving us and to ask Him to save those we know that still need salvation.

Savior Sundays - A day to pray and thank God for who He is and to focus on Him and His goodness. 

I don't know how often you pray or your method but I do know that God loves you and He loves me and He loves to hear from us. Prayer and reading God's Word are the two primary ways He speaks to us and I hope that this next year will be one where you have sweet fellowship with The Lord.

Lastly, if you have something you want prayed for please e-mail me. I really do mean it when I say I will pray for you and I have several other blog friends on that list already: if you need prayer I'm happy to pray for you.

What helps you pray consistently?
Do you have a set routine or what works best for you?

Praying for my K4 class

If you follow me on Instagram you saw this cute and funny picture last week! Sweet and Kyron are the two cute girls in this picture. I love them both! 

I've been thinking about my kids a lot lately. Yes, I call them 'my kids' already, which yes, that means I'll be crying and sobbing in a few months when I tell them bye. Back to my point...

I know a lot of you know this but our school targets Buddhist children. I'd say probably more than half of the kids in my class are Buddhist or Hindus. 

During many of the lessons the kids try so hard to sit still and listen but the wiggles just get the better part of them, that is until we start telling them a Bible story. Then, they are focused in like I have never seen them. And it dawned on me, this is the first time a lot of these kids have heard these stories. Simple stories like David and Goliath, like Moses and the burning bush where I AM spoke.  

What I want more than anything is to see these kids become Christians. To see their lives transformed and to see their families transformed because of Christ. 

I often wonder who prays for them? I know Dave and I do. I know Pam and their families do but who else? I'd love to have people who are committed to praying for these kids. 

These is where YOU come in! I have 17 children and I'm looking for 17 people to adopt these kids in prayer. When I say adopt I mean that you are serious about lifting up a child before The Father and pleading to God on their behalf. 

If you are interested in adopting a child in prayer this is how it will work: 

I'll send you a picture of a child to pray for. I'll tell you their name and will tell you more about that child so you can feel like you know them! My family is also coming in August and September so you could even send a little letter to them telling them you are praying for them. If you include stickers they'd for sure love you for a lifetime. 

My plan is to share the Buddhist and Hindu children first and then the kids that come from a Christian family. 

If you are interested please just shoot me an e-mail at sunshine2thesuquareinch{at}gmail{.}com

A Photograhphy Feature on Pray Scripture

 

Something I am really passionate about is The Word of God! It has an answer for every aspect of life and is God, in written form, penned for us to know Him. I've mentioned before that something I am working on is my prayer life.

And then ... there is photography! I love it and I have so enjoyed taking lots and lots of pictures over here in Asia.

How do these three things tie together? Well I'm about to tell you. 

A month or so ago my friend Jenny messaged me and told me I should start selling or featuring some of my pictures. It was a really encouraging comment but I really didn't know how to go about doing any of that. She also told me about a ministry called Pray Scripture that uses photographs to write Bible verses in prayer forms. I thought it sounded right up my alley so I e-mailed Pray Scripture and NEXT WEEK my photography is going to be featured to pray through the book of I Peter. It will start on Monday, June 8th! 

The pictures in this post are sneak peeks of what they will be using next week!! So exciting! 

Also, I didn't get paid for these pictures and I wouldn't want to be paid for them. I'm just excited that God is going to use these photos to put Scripture in prayer form for us to pray over our families, friends, your children and more!

 

I asked Danielle from Pray Scripture to explain a bit more about this ministry and here is what she has to say: 

"I started the website because after I became a mom, I really wanted to pray God's best over our son.  I found lots of great resources for praying 10 promises from the Bible, or 30 character qualities, etc, but really wanted to search through all of God's Word to choose what I wanted to pray over his life.  Once I started praying Scripture it completely changed how I prayed, what I asked for, and what I believed in faith God would do in my son's life. And  I knew that every parent, or grandparent, etc, would want to pray the same way-bold, God-centered, God-inspired, prayers. Recognizing the busy life of most young moms (and Dads), I wanted to make praying scripture simple and convenient so that people with any amount of time each day or experience with God's word could make this a daily habit.

We officially launched 1 year ago in May, and currently serve over 3,000 subscribers via email and social media in over 25 countries. I am SO thankful and humbled to see how God is answering people's prayers and calling people to pray His word on a daily basis."

I absolutely loved hearing about Danielle and am just so thrilled to be a part of praying The Bible over those I love. I hope you all will join us in praying through I Peter. I also recommend that you read through I Peter to get some more of God's Word in your heart and to be ready to pray these verses. 

Pray Scripture verses are sent out daily and can be found on the following social media platforms:

Instagram: @prayscripture

FB: facebook.com/prayscripture.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pray_scripture

 

Have you ever heard of pray scripture before? 

Do you pray Bible verses over yourself, your family and friends?  

Daily Prayer Topics

A year ago I shared about daily prayer topics. It's a method that has really helped me have some structure and focus for my prayer life. I'm by no means and expert and I always feel like my prayer life can improve but I do feel like this method has really helped my prayer life over the past year. I know others want to grow in their prayer life so I'm sharing these tips today in hopes of encouraging one of you.  

What are daily prayer topics? It's just what they sound like; a topic of prayer for each day of the week.  I still don't know how my brain came up with these but I am positive God put the ideas in my head to help me. Each day has a little rhyme or a quirky way to help me remember the topic for the day. 

Underneath each day I have a list of people who I pray for. Some friends have asked me to pray for specific things so next to their name I'll jot down a word or two to help me remember to pray specifically for what they asked for.  

Another thing I really found helpful was to put these in a note in my iPhone. I always have my phone with me so if I am in a taxi, on a plane or some place quiet I can open that list up and pray right away.

Daily Prayer Topics

Missionary Mondays - A day to pray for our missionary friends around the world. Serving abroad I can't tell you enough how important prayer is. If you pray for your friends on this day why not shoot them an e-mail letting them know. I guarantee they would appreciate it.

Tuesday - Just the Two of Us - A day to pray over our marriage. A day to pray individually for Dave and I, for our walks with God and for Him to grow our marriage. If you aren't married maybe this could be a day for you to pray about you and your relationship with God. It's still 'just the two of us' theme.

Wednesday - Our Weird Woved Ones - I know, it's super cheesy but it helps me remember. and no, I don't think my family is full of weirdos. This is a day to thank God for our wonderful families and to lift them up in prayer.

Thankful Thursdays - So many times we ask ask ask and we really need to stop and thank God for all He has done. This day is set aside just for that.

Friday Friend Day - A day to pray for all of my friends

Salvation Saturdays - A day to thank God for saving us and to ask Him to save those we know that still need salvation.

Savior Sundays - A day to pray and thank God for who He is and to focus on Him and His goodness.

Do you have any more tips on how to be more consistent with prayer?
What do you do to help you pray more consistently?

Missionary Mondays // Keeping an Element of Surprise in Marriage + prayer Cards

Welcome to week 4 of my August series called Missionary Mondays! Missionary Mondays are weekly updates on how God is guiding Dave and I to Myanmar (Burma) & Thailand. We hope these posts will help answer any questions but if you have any other questions please ask! We love questions. 

This week I'm sharing about a photo shoot Dave and I took for our prayer cards. 

For previous updates please read the following:

Week 1- A recap on meeting the Holmes who serve in Thailand + an overview of the ministry there.
Week 2 - What are you willing to eat for the sake of the gospel?
Week 3 - Why Myanmar (Burma)
Week 4 - Prayer Requests & Our Upcoming Travel Plans
Overdue Update - This gives a general overview of our upcoming move and plans.

Pam & Zama in Myanmar - The people we are going to serve with in Myanmar have been so kind as to write a blog post all about the work they are doing over there. I hope you will check it out.

__________________________________________________

I like to keep an element of surprise in my marriage; the kind of surprise that keeps our marriage alive and thriving. By surprise, what I really mean is that I told my husband that I had a photo shoot for our prayer cards. #GoMe! Dave did not like this surprise as much as I enjoyed it but none the less he was a good trooper and we got some pictures taken. 

Flash Branding Images, a local photographer in the Woodward area, did a fantastic job of taking some photos of us. I'm glad we got pictures taken in our small town because it's a good reminder of where we lived our first year of marriage. I also love them because we took them on the local walking trails that are about 1/4 of a mile from our house and Dave and I have ran and walked those trails many many times. 

Here are some of the pictures we took.

^^^

I told Dave that the above picture captioned us perfectly: me cracking up at something ridiculous and him giving me 'the nod'. 

Other than loving photo shoots (my favorite being trash the dress) and pictures I really did get these pictures done for prayer cards. There is power in prayer and I am asking people to pray for us during our year abroad. I'm asking you all to pray for us! We want to see God do big things and know that it isn't possible without prayer!

Here are the prayer cards that I'm getting printed and if you want a prayer card please just fill out the form below or shoot me an e-mail with your address and I'll send you one. I also want you all to know that I'd love to pray for you! I'm not too busy to take some time aside in prayer for you and I'd love to lift you up before The Lord. If you have something you want prayer for, whatever it is, I'd love to pray for you. You can e-mail me prayer requests and I'll be sure to pray! 

Also, these cards were made by SizeLove Design! Abby is the designer behind Size Love Designs and I think she did a great job. 

Who else out there likes photo shoots? 

What other good tricks do you have for getting your husband to go on photo shoots?

Overcoming the Lie of Strongholds

Great Salt Plains in Oklahoma

Hi there friend! Sometime in December, Ashley, from Overcome the Lie contacted me and asked if I would write about a lie God has helped me over come. It honestly couldn't have been better timing because I had been praying that God would connect me to other women bloggers who would encourage my faith and vise versa. Today I'm going to talk about overcoming Strongholds in our lives.
Before I share some things I wanted to talk a bit about the organization 'Overcome the Lie'. If you haven't heard of them it's an organization that encourages women to 'overcome the lie because Jesus overcome the grave'. How powerful is that?! They have a twitter party at 9pm EST on Wednesdays, have connect groups, will pray for you and lots of other awesome things. I'd encourage you to head over to their website (links on bottom of this post) and get connected.

Although I have been asked to write, I'm not writing just a 'guest post'. I'm writing because I believe there is a message that needs to be delivered. I've seen God bring me out of strongholds and I know He desires the same for you. Honestly, I can't imagine being delivered and not sharing the lessons and faithfulness of God I have seen. I'm also not here to lay out all the details about my past. I'm here to share about what the Lord has done and how through Him we have victory.

Overcoming Strong Holds

What is a Strong Hold?

The word 'strong hold' is found in II Corinthians 10:4. In the Greek it means the following: a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness, anything on which one relies (BLB). Basically a strong hold is anything in your life, other than Jesus, that you are relying on or that has a hold on you. It can be anything from an ungodly relationship, apathy, not spending enough time in prayer, over eating, and on and on. If someone or something has more influence over you than Jesus - it's a strong hold.

To be honest, my strong hold lasted a whole whopping long and difficult 5+ years and I believed a lot of lies. If you think about it, a lie starts with someone giving you information. Although it's false information it does start in your head. To counteract lies we have to start with our mind - fill it with the truth of God's Word. I'm going to share with you some of the lies I believed and what verses God gave me to help me overcome them.

The Lies

Lie #1 – I’ll never be fully free from “whatever your stronghold is”

When you are entangled in a lie it is so easy for your emotions to tell you won't be free from it. When you feel that way I hope you will remember these words, spoken by Jesus himself: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach DELIVERANCE TO THE CAPTIVES..." (Luke 4:18). I know we 'know' this but I'm here to say it again, Jesus didn't just tell people to be free, he went to a cross and died a brutal death to do that for us. He means it when he promises to set us free.

Lie #2 – I've tried and messed up too many times to try again. 
I hate to break it to you but when you are over coming strong holds sometimes it isn't an instant victory but rather a process. Yes, you will often fall flat on your face, again, and feel ashamed. The enemy will be right there, telling you to just stay down. Here is what God has to say though: "For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again (Proverbs 24:16a). Seven times! That's a lot and you know what? I think it's beyond seven times. Jesus said to forgive 70 x 7 and if He expects that of us He will offer it to. If you fall down, get back up and start again!

Lie #3 - I can do it!
Wrong! YOU can't do it. So many times we think victory over sin comes from just trying hard enough. No one can just 'try hard enough'. The power of victory comes through Jesus Christ. Victory comes through reading the Bible and renewing your mind, prayer, attending church and having Godly people to encourage and hold you accountable. We just weren't meant to fight battles alone. I know when I went through my hard times I would often listen to sermons and I had several friends that I knew I could call any time for encouragement or help.

Lie #4 - I'm not loved
This lie can come from our own emotions or from someone telling us that. However, Jesus has loved us with an everlasting love! I can't tell you how many times I was struggling and I'd finally sit down with my Bible expecting to read some verse on God's coming judgment. However, when I opened the Word, time and time again I came across the word lovingkindness. My favorite verse on this is Jeremiah 31:3 "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindess have I drawn thee". Friend, you are loved!

Lie #5 - I'm too damaged and won't be fully restored
I believed this for the longest time. However, I went to a women's retreat and the speaker keyed in on Joel 3:25-27 "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten ... and ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you ... and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed". Let me do a bit of explaining ... the locust came and ate the Israelites fields. Fields, in Bible days, meant food, it meant survival. Locusts ate the present seed and future seed and could damage a crop for 250 years! I view the locusts as 'sin' and 'strongholds'. They take years from your life. However, God promised to restore it. Isn't that odd? How can God restore a year that has passed? Honestly, I don't know how He does that but he does! I wrote those verses out, claimed that promise, and God did it. He restored to me much much more than I lost. I'm still amazed at how that all happened but I'm glad He did it.

If you are battling something today I encourage you to get in God's Word and write out some verses. When those lies creep in fight them with The Truth you have. God is here to give you an abundant life and He loves you very much! If you are his child the power of the resurrection that raised Jesus from the dead is within you wanting to free you from sin.

Also, if you have questions, need encouragement or want prayer I'm available. You can e-mail me at sunshine2thesquareinch@gmail.com any time.

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